‘Too nice’ Liberal leadership contenders head into second debate - Toronto Star
The five candidates in the Nov. 21 race to become Ontario's next Liberal leader have been floating policy ideas, but for the most part without a lot of specifics or price tags.
From left, Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi, Navdeep Bains, Stephanie Bowman and Dylan Marando take part in an Ontario Liberal leadership debate in Brampton, Ont, on Aug. 10, 2026.
Lower transit fares. More affordable housing. Reverse Premier Doug Ford’s OSAP cuts. Better access to family doctors. Address climate change. Improve northern Ontario highways.
The five candidates in the Nov. 21 race to become Ontario’s next Liberal leader have been floating policy ideas — some more than others — but for the most part without a lot of specifics or price tags.
As the hopefuls head into their second debate Monday night against a headwind of other news — from the Trump trade war to the Blue Jays blowing a return to the World Series — party insiders say the promise game is more about getting attention than getting into detail.
“They’re giving you blue-sky ideas … a ‘vision’ thing,” says veteran strategist Marcel Wieder, president of the public affairs firm Aurora Strategy Global.
There are six weeks left for candidates to beef up their pitches to head a party that is second place to Ford’s Progressive Conservatives in the polls and a distant third in the legislature before ranked-ballot voting begins Nov. 9.
Narrowcasting their messages to several thousand party members, former federal industry minister Navdeep Bains, MPPs Stephanie Bowman and Lee Fairclough, former policy adviser Dylan Marando and financial technology engineer Eric Lombardi are battling for support daily at campaign events and on social media.
Welcome to the Ontario Liberal Leadership candidates debate, moderated by Siobhan Morris from CTV News. The Ontario Liberal Leadership candidates are Navdeep Bains, Stephanie Bowman, Lee Fairclough, Eric Lombardi and Dylan Marando.
“Leadership races are about direction and priorities, not line-by-line budgets,” said the Bains campaign, which is pushing a universal nutrition program in schools because “a child who comes to school hungry can’t learn” and a fund aimed at creating jobs that pay well.
Lombardi, the only candidate with a fully costed platform that has been on his website for months, expressed frustration Thursday with a general lack of media attention to the contest.
“Nothing gets reported other than the race being ‘boring.’ Well, governance isn’t supposed to be entertainment,” the housing advocate wrote on X. He later deleted the post.
“A whole generation did everything right and still can’t buy a home here,” Lombardi, who has never held public office, told the Star in a statement.
“The rules stop the homes families want from getting built, the code makes the ones that do get built expensive, and cities pay for growth by taxing whoever moves in. My plan goes after all three.”
If people find the Liberal leadership race boring, that’s because the candidates aren’t mixing it up enough, said Tim Hudak, who won Ontario’s Progressive Conservative leadership race in 2009.
“They’re all so nice. Too nice. I want some sparks,” the businessman and consultant told the Star, noting the 2022 Liberal contest won by Bonnie Crombie had much more interest and tension as she sparred with younger rival Nate Erskine-Smith, a former MP who dropped plans to run this time and is seeking a city council seat instead.
